How Did It Start?
by The Pen Vs The Sword
Summary: Cream and Tails argue over how they first got together, recalling various events of their relationship. Tails/Cream. One-shot. Rated K. Requested by AvlynnTheFox on DeviantArt.


**A/N:** Hello again. Just for the record, this is a request we received from AvlynnTheFox on DevianArt. We had no intention of continuing our last story revolving around Tails and Cream and this doesn't tie into it. So without further ado, let's get into it.

**Sword:** All characters and stuff related to them belong to Sega! Sword and Pen *drags Pen out of hiding* belong to the author! Stop trying to get away, Pen!

**Pen:** I am sick to death of these romantic stories! I will escape! *leaps out the window*

While I call an ambulance, please enjoy the story.

**How Did It Start?**

There are few things more relaxing to adults than a quiet evening after a hard week of work. Indeed, the many hours spent slaving over machines longer than the allotted nine to five time slot or tidying up the house and pitching in on various chores does allow one to appreciate the downtime that much more. To be honest, the weekends are usually seen as the goal line, the breather from the laborious toil where hard-working men and women are allowed to recuperate and relax. Relax. That one word is like music from a choir of angels to anyone in that position.

And Tails and Cream were relaxing, after a particularly long week. They were at that point where they were too tired to turn in for the night, but found no energy to move about. They simply snuggled up to one another, watching the television quietly. Unfortunately, their peace was interrupted from a loud voice upstairs. "Mom!"

Cream sighed, but sat on the edge of the sofa, preparing to stand. Tails leaned forward and rubbed her back. "Want me to go?" he asked.

"No, it's fine," she said, smiling tiredly.

"Mom? Dad?"

"Coming, sweetie," Cream called. She headed upstairs, leaving Tails alone for several minutes.

He found an interesting show on planes. He entertained himself, laughing at the design flaws people were making and talking to the television as if they could hear him. "They should be using fourteen instead of sixteen," he said, nodding sagely at his criticisms. "It would lighten the load and they wouldn't have to worry about the landing wheels."

Cream came back downstairs shortly after and plopped on the sofa. Tails scooped her up under his arm and nestled his muzzle on top of her head. "How is she?"

"She's fine," Cream said. "Had that nightmare again. But I sang a song to her and she went to sleep."

Tails kissed her head and eyed the television's clock. Midnight. "Happy Anniversary," he said, jerking his thumb at the clock.

Cream buried her face in his chest and murmured, "Happy Anniversary."

They were silent for a few minutes, flipping through the channels. Then Tails said, "You know, she was asking me how you and I got together today. Not how I proposed, but before that."

"Oh? What did you tell her?"

"I told her about when I first asked you out. Remember? Our first date?"

* * *

_Tails combed and re-combed the fur on his head. He checked his namesakes, careful not to let them dip into anything lest he ruin his preparation. When he looked at himself in the mirror, he smiled, satisfied. _Okay, good, good,_ he thought. He trotted downstairs, but had nobody's opinion to ask on how he looked. Sonic was out of town, so he would have to rely on gut instinct._

It's Cream. It'll be fine,_ he told himself. Then he rushed out the door, flying across town to her house. When he arrived, he was thankful she had not dressed too elaborately. He did notice she had taken great strains to wear her best orange dress, a small ribbon hidden by her left ear, and nice shoes. There was a divine perfume scent that wafted into his nose. The world seemed to lose focus and become hazy around her. She was breathtakingly beautiful. _

"_Ready to go?" he asked. She nodded, those bright, chocolate eyes eager to leave. He offered his arm to her as they headed out to Twinkle Park._

_The colorful sights and merry sounds eased Tails' nerves on this outing. He was still giddy that Cream had accepted his invitation. Even though he was pretty sure she liked him as much as he liked her, he had been concerned about rejection. However, now he was there on the actual date, he assumed this meant they were serious._

But are we?_ He tried to gauge how close Cream felt, but she made no gestures to be closer or to move away from holding his arm. She did lay her head on his shoulder at one point while walking through the park. _Does that count? Does that mean anything?

_He would receive his answer when they rode the carousel, filled with horses and carts of all kinds. They opted for a pair of horses next to one another and enjoyed the slow, whirling, up-and-down motion until it stopped. Once it did, Tails helped Cream down from her horse. "Thanks," she said, kissing him. He flushed scarlet, but was reinforced that she was now officially his girlfriend. She took his hand and they strode to the next ride._

* * *

"Hang on a minute," Cream said, interrupting his story. "We were together long before that."

Tails tilted his head. "When? That was when I officially asked you out."

"But we had been on dates before that," she said. "Plenty of them. And the first was at the diner."

* * *

_It was a sweltering day. The kind of day that demands a person have a frozen treat in one hand and a cold, refreshing drink in the other. Unfortunately for Cream, she had neither. Every step was like she was dragging a boulder tied to her leg. Cheese was resting on her head, moaning softly about the heat. She did not have the energy to respond to him._

_She spotted a diner up ahead. Sure to be air conditioned, she hurried over to it as fast as she could. When she burst inside, she was met by a lovely rush of cold wind blowing away all lethargic traces. She surveyed the interior. Surprisingly, not many people were in the diner. Then again, not many people were out and about in the city at all that day._

_Cream looked to the side and spotted Tails. He saw her and called her over. Cream took a seat at his table, watching him sip his ice water. Her eyes trailed the ice cubes as they clinked against one another and floated around._

"_What are you doing here?" Tails asked._

"_I had to pick something up for my mother," she said. "I didn't know it would be this hot."_

_A waitress came by, delivering a plate of food to Tails. Cream asked for some water. "Would you like anything else?" the waitress asked._

"_No, thank you," she said._

"_Cream," Tails said. "Go ahead and get something. I'll pay for it."_

"_Oh, no. I couldn't do that," Cream said, trying to protest._

"_I insist," he said._

_She thanked him and ordered the same meal as Tails. "What about Cheese?" he asked when the waitress left. The little chao was snoozing on her head._

"_He can just share with me," she said. "Thank you again." She smiled at Tails, which he returned. Cream bashfully looked elsewhere. Tails was always very kind to her. She enjoyed his company and would not mind hanging out with him more often. She wondered briefly if this counted as a date of sorts._

_But the waitress interrupted her thoughts, bringing her food. Cheese immediately woke up to the smell and dove into the pile of fries. Tails and Cream enjoyed a good laugh at his ravenous antics. Then she asked, "So what are you doing in town today?"_

"_Oh, just looking for parts for the Tornado," he said._

"_What kind of parts?"_

"_Something for the wings. Nothing special," he said. Although Cream could tell that he wanted to rattle off what the parts would do. He was predictable to a fault, but had oft refrained from giving his long-winded explanations recently because very few understood or were interested._

_Yet Cream always loved how excited he would become when talking about his inventions or mechanical endeavors. She found him extremely cute at those times. So she prodded him. "What will they make the wings do?"_

_There it was. That inventor's glint in his eye, the crooked smile, and the building anticipation of telling her. "Well, there is this one piece that, if I can find the right size, could allow the Tornado to adjust its banking degree easier while still retaining its top speed." He went into excruciating detail on every aspect. Cream sat there, only understanding part of the explanation, but enjoying Tails' lively eyes. She nodded most of the time, chiming in with a question or a "Sounds good" now and again. That enthusiastic fervor of his was adorable._

* * *

"Adorable?" Tails asked, frowning slightly.

Cream shrugged. "Well, you are pretty cute."

"Not exactly the thing a guy wants to hear," he said. Cream giggled. "So you were always playing me when I went off on tangents about my machines?" His eyes widened. "So when I was talking about my new invention yesterday, you were doing that?"

"No, no. I really do enjoy listening to you," she said. She held up her hand. "Honest." Tails looked elsewhere, clucking his tongue. Cream nuzzled his neck. "I really do."

"Right," Tails said, rolling his eyes. He stuck his nose in the air melodramatically. "I don't feel like sharing my explanations with you anymore. Guess you'll have to find your 'cuteness' somewhere else. Maybe from this?" He leaned on her, holding her down on the sofa, and gnawed gently her head and ears. He made playful growls as she shrieked.

"Agh! Tails!" She clamped a hand over her mouth, stifling her laughter.

Tails raised his head, his tongue sticking out as his namesakes flicked back and forth. "Besides," he said, touching his forehead to hers, "that was unofficial."

"But we spent the whole day together afterwards. It was technically our first date, unofficial or not," Cream said, wrapping her arms around him.

"Then if you're going to count unofficial, we've been together long for that," Tails said.

* * *

Make a present yourself, they said,_ Tails thought, putting the finishing touches on his gift. _It's much easier and comes from the heart, they said. _He scoffed. While the latter was true, easy had never factored into the equation. He did not mind slaving over a heartfelt present. No, what had worn him down was deciding what to make. The extent of Tails' knowledge on what girls liked was jewelry and dresses. Even though he knew Cream well, he had been lost. He wanted his gift to be meaningful and not a dime a dozen copy one could purchase in a store. He had seen her out and about picking flowers from time to time, but a potted plant did not really scream thoughtful._

_So Tails had stuck by the tried and true options once he talked with Sonic. The blue hedgehog had suggested a dress for Cream. "I don't think she wears jewelry," he had said. Which was true. Cream was not the type to wear expensive, glittery baubles. Therefore, Tails had settled on sewing a dress._

_Or he would have if he had any sewing skill. What he had ended up with was a Frankenstein nightmare of a dress, with stitches running all over. It was not even comprised of one single color, as he had run out of material halfway through. So while the main dress was yellow, one sleeve was red, a patch on the rear was green, and various other colors popped up like eyesores._

_Since natural talent had failed him, Tails turned to science. He had no time to create a new dress from scratch, but he could fix the horrible design he had made. The variety of colors had given him the idea for a new invention. At that moment, he was closing the case of a round device that looked like a radio dial._

"_Now," he said, affixing the dial to the back of the dress. "Let's see if this works." He twisted the dial. Immediately, yellow flowed through the dress, covering the undesirable spots so that the entire dress was exactly as he first envisioned. "Yes!" He turned the dial again. Now the dress was crimson. Another turn and it was baby blue._

_He smiled and giftwrapped the dress. When he finished, Sonic called from upstairs. "Yo, we need to go or we're gonna be late!"_

"_Coming!" Tails said, scooping up the dress and other presents. He grabbed his scarf and earmuffs before heading out the door._

_The chilly snowfall had frozen the landscape. Many people were staying indoors and who could blame them? Even Tails flew fast, keeping pace with Sonic. The sooner they reached Amy's house, the sooner they could return to the warmth. Of course Tails did have an easier time than Sonic. He chuckled when Sonic would run too hard and drift into a clump of snow. Several times, the hedgehog nearly tripped on patches of invisible ice._

_But they reached the house without any terrible incident. Sonic stomped his shoes free of snow and pounded the side of his head, knocking loose more of the white powder from behind his ears. Amy invited them in, immediately latching onto Sonic while Tails placed his gifts under the Christmas tree._

_Once everyone else arrived, they ate and milled about before finally opening presents. Tails was able to pull Cream away from the crowd to hand her his present. "Merry Christmas," he said, his teeth chattering. _Please like it. Please like it.

_She unwrapped the gift and marveled at the dress. "Oh, Tails!" she said. "It's so pretty!" She touched the hems and ran her hands up the soft texture. "Thank you so much!"_

"_That's not all," he said. He showed her the dial and twisted it. She yelped when the dress changed colors. "You can, I don't know, change it on different days or something."_

"_That's neat," she said, touching the dial. "Does this work on anything?"_

"_No, don't!" But it was too late. She had pulled off the dial and the dress had reverted to its original wreck. He slapped his forehead, dragging his hands down his face. _Great. She hates it. She's going to throw it back in my face._ He buried his head in his hands. _I should've just bought something.

"_Did you make this?" Cream asked._

_He could not answer. He simply nodded. "I know it's awful. That's why I made the dial to cover it up. I didn't want you to see it." _That worked out well,_ he bitterly thought. _Guess you can't cover up garbage.

"_It's not awful," Cream said._

Terrible? Atrocious? _Tails prepared himself for a stronger word. But he felt a small peck on his cheek. He jerked his head up and Cream had reattached the dial. "I love that you made it for me. Thank you."_

"_Y-You're welcome," he said._

"_And it is an interesting dress," she said. "Almost like a rainbow really. I do like rainbows." He knew she was softening the blow at that point, but he was happy that she approved of it at least._

"_Well, Merry Christmas," he said._

_She threw her arms around him. "Merry Christmas, Tails."_

* * *

"It wasn't an ugly dress," Cream said fondly. "I remember I wore it out like that without the dial a few times. I got some stares, but I liked its unique…pattern."

"You were probably the only one," Tails said, playing with her ears. He lay behind her, one arms draped over her waist.

"No, my mom liked it."

"Yeah, like Vanilla was actually going to tell her daughter a dress looked ugly," Tails said, chuckling.

Cream slapped his chest. "And Sonic and Amy thought it was good."

"They were being nice," Tails said. "I remember Knuckles couldn't stop laughing one time."

Cream turned to him. "Yeah, but once he found out I honestly liked it, he stopped."

Tails tilted his head. "I always thought Amy's hammer had made him stop."

"One or the other," Cream said, grinning. They laughed before she added, "And you're wrong. It you count that, then we were together on that day with your plane."

"Where you were pretending to understand an explanation?" Tails asked teasingly. She slapped him again.

"Shut up. It was when you were working on the Tornado."

* * *

_The weather was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Clear skies, plenty of sunshine, and neither too hot or too cold. Great weather for a chao too, as Cheese cooed happily and delightfully zipped about. So as Cream traipsed down the rocky path to Tails' workshop, she was not surprised to see him outside, working on the Tornado. Despite constantly battling Eggman's minions on a regular basis, the plane looked brand new. Tails was pretty meticulous in his care for it. When he was not fixing some busted piece, he was adding on an upgrade._

_She stopped at the edge of the runway, watching him fly around the plane and check different aspects. She chuckled at his oily, greasy fur that stuck up at odd ends. He heard her and glanced up._

"_Hey, Cream," he said, waving to her. "What can I do for you?"_

_She shook her head. "I just came by to visit and see how you were doing. What are you working on?"_

"_Oh, just replacing a couple of parts," he said, taking a wrench to the engine. He twisted something inside, grunting and straining. The wrench slipped from his hand and he fell off the Tornado. He caught himself before he reached the ground, hovering to safety. "That should do it," he said. He shut the engine's lid. "Want to take a ride in it?"_

"_Sure," Cream said. It had been a while since she had last flown in the plane. She was eager to see what additions he had outfitted the Tornado with. Cheese nodded his agreement to Tails' offer and they climbed into the back seat._

_Tails sat up front and apologized for his smell. "It might float back there," he sheepishly said._

"_It's alright," Cream said. She did not catch a whiff of it anyway. She buckled up Cheese and herself as he started the Tornado. _

_The plane rumbled to life and rolled down the runway. They sped up, moving faster and faster until they were airborne. That sickening lurch in the stomach was replaced with a pleasant weightlessness that tickled Cream. She leaned out of her seat and watched the workshop disappear beneath the wispy clouds._

_They settled on a comfortable altitude, the wind loud and whipping through the cockpit. Holes opened up here and there beneath in the layer of clouds, revealing landscape below. _

_But nary ten minutes into the flight, she heard Tails say, "Uh-oh."_

"_Uh-oh?" Cream asked. She peered over his shoulder. One of the console lights was flashing. "What does that mean?" she asked._

"_It means the part I was tightening isn't as secure as I thought it was," he said. "If it doesn't get fixed, the engine could come loose and the Tornado will quit."_

"_Can we land?" she asked as he dipped below the clouds. When they did, she saw the problem. There was no clear space to land the aircraft. "Could you fix it?"_

"_I can," he said. "But we're going pretty fast."_

"_Can't you slow it down?"_

_He shook his head. "Then we would drop. Here," he offered his hand. She took it and he helped her into the front seat. Only then did she really catch his rank stench of motor oil and sweat. He wrapped her hands around the control stick. "Hold this and keep it steady," he said. Tails rummaged around in a glove compartment and pulled out a small wrench. "I'll be right back."_

_Tails stood on the edge of the cockpit's seat. He gulped and jumped forward, spinning his tails for all their worth. He cleared the front, but when he started to drift back, he latched onto the front side of the Tornado. Fighting against the wind, he jammed his wrench inside._

_Meanwhile, Cream was having a difficult time with the control stick. She lacked Tails' finesse with the giant machine. The constant blinking light worried her even more. Yet she did her best to keep the Tornado stable. The plane zoomed up and down under her touch._

_At one point, the Tornado tipped into a dive. It careened toward the ground as Tails clutched for dear life. Cream immediately pulled back on the stick. The plane shot up vertically and another warning light flashed. _Stall?_ she thought. _But it's still going!

_Then the plane refused to cooperate. It was flipped upside down. It started to free-fall through the air. Cream screamed, but Tails was making his way back to the cockpit. He jumped in the seat with her. He immediately grabbed the control stick and hit various buttons on the console. "Oh, no."_

"_I'm sorry," Cream said._

"_It's fine. I just need to- Uh, you might want to hang on," he said. She wrapped her arms around him, missing his flushed face. They both yelled as he tapped some more controls. He pulled the plane to the side. It spun wildly out of control. Then it righted itself and took off into the air once again._

_Neither Cream nor Tails talked for the longest time. They merely panted, reveling in their near accident. Cream checked on Cheese. The poor little chao was quaking in his seat, as pale as a ghost. She scooped him up in her arms and he clung to her waist._

"_Well," Tails said, pulling the plane higher. "That was a good test."_

_She nodded and giggled. He chuckled and they both evolved into full-blown laughter at their experience. After they settled down, Tails lowered the plane below the clouds. They were over the sea. The water below was like a rippling blanket catching an outpour of brilliant, flashing diamonds within its waves. The horizon extended to forever as the land behind them sank into the distance._

_Cream did notice Tails' smell even more. But she did not mind. The musky aroma was washed away by the salty sea wind. She smiled at Tails and snuggled into his chest. He really was a great friend. Maybe even more than that. She glanced up at him, taking in his shimmering eyes, that handsome grin. She felt close to him. Cream wondered if-_

* * *

"Hold it," Tails held up his hands, jamming the fingers of one into the palm of the other. "I remember that. It was when I was using a new bolt on the engine that- Er, nevermind." He narrowed his eyes. "I'll spare you the 'adorable' explanation. Anyway, that was way before we were together."

"So was the Christmas party," Cream said.

"But that was-"

"Mom?" They turned to the staircase. "Mom? Dad?"

Tails turned to Cream and rested his head on her chest. She scratched behind his ears, earning a purr from him. "I'll go this time," he said, rolling off her. He helped her up and they walked over to the stairs, leaning on one another. "I'm right though."

"No, you're not," Cream said.

"Oh, yeah?" He scooped her up, causing her to yelp. He laughed and carried her up the steps. Cream smiled and kissed him deeply. He kissed Cream back, cupping her cheek in his hand.

"Dad?"

"Coming sweetheart," Tails said, climbing the stairs with Cream in his arms.

**A/N:** This was an odd piece to do. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it. Please, let us know what you thought.

**Sword:** Hey, Pen! Why don't we tell everyone how we got together?

**Pen:** I would rather tell people how it all ended. En garde!


End file.
